Biker Lives Matter!

Or not:

• A shootout among rival motorcycle gangs at a popular Central Texas restaurant left nine bikers dead and 18 injured, and it sent panicked patrons and bystanders fleeing for safety, a police spokesman said Sunday.
  
  The violence erupted shortly after noon at a busy Waco shopping center along Interstate 35 that draws a large lunchtime crowd. Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said eight people died at the scene of the shooting at Twin Peaks restaurant and another person died at a hospital.

Thanks to CompStat-Waco, these will all be listed as self-defense, death investigations or mutual combatants. Waco crime will not rise and crime is down! Police may have killed one or more of the gang members and the investigation continues.

Amazingly, according to the article, not a single innocent was so much as winged during the entire episode.

Another Reason Illinois is Broke

Along the lines of the below Navy Pier article, they're paying for poor performance:

• The only thing Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to say about his state’s pension system is that he thinks the required payouts are so burdensome, there should be a constitutional amendment that would allow him to cut them.
  
  Rauner himself is a former private equity executive who managed hundreds of millions of dollars from public pension funds (including some in Illinois). As the pension funding crisis has become increasingly acute, he has avoided talking about how his own industry may have contributed to the crisis: specifically, through high fees and underperformance -- and, according to a new report, influence peddling.
  
  
• This new study suggests the involvement of placement agents in pension investments may have significantly worsened pension liabilities in states that were already facing substantial gaps between what they’ve saved for workers’ retirement and what they are contractually obligated to pay out in benefits.
  
  In Illinois, where Rauner is pushing retirement benefit cuts, the trend is illustrative. There, the $18.9 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System (SURS) used placement agents for 15.6 percent of its private equity investments -- which then underperformed the pension fund’s other private equity investments by -9.2 percent. The underperformance may have cost the system hundreds of millions of dollars, money could have been used to shore up the plan’s funding.

The middle men get rich, while public employees get fleeced - twice. Read it all - the article ties in California, New York and Virginia under-performing funds along with Illinois.

In Any Other Business...

Under-performance is usually grounds for change, but only in the private sector:

• Navy Pier’s big makeover is more than a year behind schedule. Attendance has fallen. But top executives still took home big bonuses, newly released records show.
  
  Nine Navy Pier Inc. executives were given bonuses totaling nearly $350,000 in 2013, according to the latest report to the Internal Revenue Service filed by Navy Pier Inc., the private organization that runs the government-owned tourist attraction.

You want a look at clout-on-steroids, check out this article. Millions in revenue benefiting a very small, select group of connected individuals, and don't even get us started on the untraceable cash running through there.

NOTE: We're going to see a bunch of comments ripping cops for getting "generous" salaries and under-performing. You can measure how many garbage cans get picked up, or how many service requests get filled, how many yards of concrete get poured or trees cut down or potholes filled. You can't have it both ways - either cops are lazy and getting paid way too much or we're doing a great job according to CompStat and getting paid way too little. Police work isn't measurable like that, though everyone is trying.

Mope-Rah at it Again

She is so close to actually breaking through on something. You can see it, but she just can't make the last connection:

• There is much praise for good Samaritans.
  
  These strangers often put their own lives at risk trying to save others from peril.
  
  Sometimes, the news media or the police recognize these heroic efforts, but quite often good Samaritans disappear without anyone ever knowing their names.
  
  In 2013, two unidentified good Samaritans foiled a rape attempt near a CTA Orange Line station by coming to the aid of an 18-year-old woman who was thrown to the ground in the attack.
  
  Last week, we saw a very different response to a situation in which it was clear someone was in desperate need of help. A young woman riding a CTA Red Line train alone in the early hours of the morning was trying to fight off a rapist when the train pulled into the North/Clybourn stop, and a man got on.
  
  According to the woman, he attacked her, pulling down her pants and underwear. She was screaming for help when the stranger stumbled onto the scene.
  
  But instead of trying to make the attacker stop, or pushing the emergency call button, or even dialing 911, the man turned around and left the train.

Mope-rah heaps scorn on the witness. Rightfully? Who knows. Most people aren't that good in a one-on-one encounter. We certainly aren't as good as we used to be so many years ago...time robs us of vision, reflexes, recovery time, etc. It happens to all of us. Mope-rah doesn't describe the age or condition of the "failed" hero.

Would we have intervened? Most certainly. But we would have had something that the good Samaritan probably didn't have, something that would equalize the odds, especially if he was frail, untested, hesitant about his odds taking on an assailant in an empty train car with no one else around to help, something that he was banned from carrying on a CTA train. Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away - more so in the Mass Transit Unit.

But Mope-rah doesn't make that leap, probably for the same reason the stranger turned away from a criminal act in his presence. You can almost feel the inner-conservative begging to come out of Mope-rah's shadow. Maybe one day....

Highway Shooting Epidemic!

We mentioned this as a semi-regular occurrence a week or so ago and suddenly, Channel 7 has an investigative report on the front burner:

• An ABC7 I-Team investigation has found that local highway shootings have more than tripled in recent years, and state police officials say that road rage isn't to blame.
  
  Gunfire on Chicago-area highways is now happening, on average, several times a month.
  
  [...] The I-Team reviewed shooting logs maintained by Illinois State Police obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
  
  They revel [sic] that in 2010, there were six shootings on Chicago-area expressways. By last year, that number had jumped to 18.
  
  The number increases even more - to 28 - when you include "reported shootings." That's when someone calls 911 to say they saw gunfire but state police couldn't find evidence that bullets hit "anything" or "anyone."

It's a good thing that McCompStat isn't keeping track of these events. Otherwise it might look like Chicago shootings are up in Chicago 31% instead of just a measly 30%.

Somehing Matters Again....

......what was it again?

• Two people, including an 81-year-old woman, were shot in the city's Gresham neighborhood in what police say was a drive-by shooting.
  
  The victims were outside when a white SUV approached them around 5 p.m. Friday in the 7800-block of South Carpenter, police said, when someone inside the vehicle allegedly started shooting
  
  The woman, Iola Burress, suffered a gunshot wound to the wrist and stomach. Her 34-year-old grandson, Sylvester Burress, suffered a gunshot wound to the hip, police said. Both were hospitalized and are in stable condition.

This was at a wake for grandma's middle-aged daughter. We're betting she probably wasn't the target. But hey, let's go light up a wake...just in case.

Bomber Gets Death

Good news out of Boston:

• A jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death Friday for the Boston Marathon bombing, sweeping aside pleas that he was just a "kid" who fell under the influence of his fanatical older brother.
  
  Tsarnaev, 21, stood with his hands folded, his head slightly bowed, upon learning his fate, decided after 14 hours of deliberations over three days. It was the most closely watched terrorism trial in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing case two decades ago.
  
  The decision sets the stage for what could be the nation's first execution of a terrorist in the post-9/11 era, though the case is likely to go through years of appeals. The execution would be carried out by lethal injection.

Good riddance, hopefully in under a few decades.

Heads Up - Feebs are Digging

The FOP newsletter hinted at this (May 2015, page 9):

• Earlier this month we were made aware that the FBI was conducting an investigation into past police involved shootings. The investigation came to light after reports that FBI agents were approaching Officers at their homes unannounced. The Officers properly declined to answer any questions without an attorney present, and contacted the Lodge immediately.

Now the media has a hold of this or possibly additional investigations:

• The FBI is investigating a police shooting of two teenage boys during a 2013 stop of a car on the South Side, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  The teens were wounded on Dec. 22 near 95th and La Salle after Chicago Police officers curbed a stolen car packed with joyriders, the department said in a statement after the incident.

The FBI is not your friend. Ever. Especially in the current political climate. They are tools...well, they're always tools, but they are tools of a political administration that hates you, your uniform, your very existence. Do not, under any circumstances, short circuit your Rights as guaranteed under the Contract, the Rule of Law, and the Constitution.

What are the Numbers?

A question for a Friday.

We're now a few years along from combining six Districts down to three. At the time, Rahm and McCarthy made numerous empty promises that the number of officers covering the combined geographic area would not change a single iota.

Of course, we knew this was a lie for many reasons. First, you didn't need double the desk officers, nor lock-up, or even administrative staff. We were amazed to see the combo-districts keep six tact teams for a while, but the certainly didn't keep double the tactical lieutenants.

Now we're curious two and three years later, how much manpower is actually down. The combined 012/013 experiment was listed as down nearly 120 officers from combined strength. How about the others? CrimeInBoystown has been keeping an informal count of 019/023 beat meetings and isn't happy with the numbers.

And a question for the media talking heads - if the Police Department is expected to operate down 20-to-30% from historical manpower and produce the same results in terms of crime and disorder issues, why aren't the City Council aldercreatures...a part-time job paying $100,000 with an attached $1,200,000 slush fund...expected to endure the same cuts and produce the same results?

Pooooor Herbie

The Tribune headline is priceless:

• Life gets harder for teen designer of controversial city sticker: 'It's been a downward spiral'

What's the old saying?

• Life is hard - it's harder if you're stupid

Herbie has definitely been stupid:

• Trouble has followed 18-year-old Herbert Pulgar since 2012, his mother said, when his winning design for a new city sticker drew controversy for images of what some termed as gang symbols.

Pretty much everyone agreed that the "heart" symbol Herbie used figures prominently in the "maniac latin disciple" lore. Then there's the fact that Herbie admitted to Channel 2 News he had gang colors, symbols and hand signs on his social media page (this link is still active almost 2.5 years later):

• Pulgar did acknowledge that his Facebook page, which has since been made private, had pictures of him flashing gang signs, but he said that was a “stupid” mistake from his past. He admitted he’s been in trouble before, but claimed working to win the contest was his way of trying to turn his life around.

Then there's the numerous times we covered Herbie's brushes with the law. Numerous hot cars, a UUW if we aren't mistaken, assorted public peace violations and a few charges related to his chosen nickname of "Herb Dilla".... you know - weed dealer.

Hey, here's an idea for momma - how about releasing Herbie juvenile record to the public? Show how he was on the straight and narrow all the way up until those nasty police pointed out what everyone else seemed to willingly ignore? That'd be fair, right?

If anyone wants to see how this all played out over the years, head over to our archives in February 2012 and scroll through. We must have written half-a-dozen articles about this nonsense and the media-types picking Herbie up off the ground and brushing off his poor little gang-banging knees while patting him on the head and telling him what a good boy he was. They had to...since his dad was (and most likely still is) a drug dealing fugitive in South America with an outstanding Interpol warrant.

Brilliant Observation

Yesterday we linked this dumb idea from Aldercreature Cardenas:

• A non-resident fee would allow Chicago to generate income without repeatedly adding to the tax burden of Chicago residents. It is time to ask suburban residents who are vested in Chicago by means of their employment to invest in the future of the city.

Someone pointed out this interpretation that slipped by us:

• "The citizens of Chicago cannot and should not continue to subsidize non-resident workers through tax increases, resident fee increases and higher utilization fees."
  
  Wait a second, just wait a fucking second... WHY NOT?!?
  
  We've been doing it for Illegal Aliens all day long who enter into this Country, but if it's done on a City Level, now it's somehow wrong?

A legit question. Suburbanites would have less rights that illegal aliens under this proposal...and that's just fine according to Cardenas.

More Downgrades - Rahm is Angry

Moody's is shooting for another Chicago Fire it seems:

• Moody’s Investor Service dropped the bond ratings of Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District to junk a day after it did the same for the city of Chicago.
  
  For CPS, the downgrade doesn’t trigger any new payments to financial institutions, but the worsening of CPS’ ratings could potentially affect negotiations the district has entered into with several banks over those “swap” termination fees.
  
  Moody’s dropped CPS’ rating three notches to Ba3 from Baa3, with a continuing negative outlook. The Chicago Park District saw the same three-notch slide to Ba1 with a negative outlook.

Rahm is not happy at all:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel ripped Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday for dropping the bond rating of the city, the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District to junk status and denied that his negotiating position with police and fire unions has been undercut by an Illlinois Supreme Court ruling overturning state pension reform.
  
  Emanuel portrayed Chicago’s economy as “strong and getting stronger” and said City Hall is making good progress in pension reform talks with police and fire unions. That includes the possibility of lifting the hammer hanging over the heads of Chicago taxpayers: a state-mandated, $550 million payment due in December to shore up police and fire pensions.

Someone correct us if we're wrong, but didn't Ramh make his millions in the world of high finance? He's at least passingly familiar with inflow and outflow as it pertains to money? No? Well then how did he make $11 million in such a short amount of time? Oh...right...the same way Hillary turned cattle futures into a pile of cash.

Side note - Dean, you've got Rahm over a barrel. Literally. You've got four aces. Any "progress" Rahm says he's making with the police and fire pensions is contingent entirely on the goodwill of the membership....and guess what? We don't have much. He's been fucking us since day one. Time to fuck him back. Here's a suggestion or three:

• Miss a few meetings. Daley and Rahm's negotiators were famous for that. Schedule a meeting, then call it off the day before without giving a reason.
• Demand the moon, stars and the sun. What have you got to lose? Time? Time is his enemy, not ours. Talk to the CFD guys and get those casino suggestions we made a few days ago written in blood, preferably his. Demons don't like contracts written in blood.
• Show up, order coffee, a lunch or two, dinner if you drag things out, stiff Rahm and his negotiators with the bill. This opportunity may never present itself again. Drag it out all summer and all fall. Who cares? Then when December rolls around, walk away. He wanted to make firefighters bleed? He wanted to "stick it in the cops' ears?" Fuck this jagoff. You'll get our $550 million with or without him. He's up against a state law to pay.

Don't fuck it up Dean. Do not fuck it up.

More Reasons Chicago is Broke (UPDATE)

You have the crooked contracts we've described on numerous occasions:

• Chicago needs widgets. The city can't just but them off the shelf at Home Depot or Wal*Mart. They have to go through a vendor. A percentage of the vendors have to meet certain requirements in terms of ownership (minority-owned, woman-owned, mob-controlled) along with the run-of-the-mill white guys. The city accepts "bids" via a easily corruptible process and chooses the vendor according to the whims of the aldercreature, the "reverends" or the voters the mayor needs. The vendor then goes and picks out the widgets at Home Depot or Wal*Mart and marks up the price by a skim-able percentage, contributes to the approved re-election fund, and pockets the rest.

We had a list of "vendors" at one point years ago. One was a storefront in Aldercreature Ed Smith's part of town, never open, but with a working phone that probably got forwarded somewhere else. The address handled all sorts of contracts for the city, including dog food for the Canine Unit - dog food that could have been purchased for 30% less than the vendor charged the city (and probably was purchased for  30% less). No one was much interested then, but maybe now?

Another place the city bleeds money - the schools. Back when the blog started, we had e-mails from old-time school officers who would relate tales of locked storerooms with unused textbooks still wrapped in shipping cellophane, supplies in original packaging, skids full of computers, monitors and printers. The officers have long since retired, and maybe the schools have gotten better at hiding things. But you still have the outright theft:

• Four people this week were named in arrest warrants tied to the theft of more than $876,000 from two Chicago Public Schools.
  
  Officials with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office would not comment on the case Wednesday, but according to court records, Judge Nicholas Ford ordered the arrest warrants.
  
  Ford on Tuesday issued a $400,000 arrest warrant for Jermaine Robinson, 36, of Chicago. Sidney Bradley, 46, of Chicago; Albert Bennett, 49, of Carpentersville; and Paul Simmons, 55, of Calumet City, were named in $200,000 arrest warrants, court records show.
  
  All four were charged with theft of government property.

That's just one school. Then there's the crooked janitorial contract of recent days. The Byrd-Bennett swindle accounting for millions. Has anyone ever done an accounting on the food for the "healthy breakfast" every kid us supposed to get? When our kids were going to school, the teachers were nearly weeping with rage at the amount of perfectly good food they were throwing out on a daily basis because the kids weren't hungry or didn't like the fruit and milk provided for every student regardless of desire.

How about the 650 miles of bike lanes Rahm and his people were praising just two years ago? As we recall, the cost was calculated out at $140,000 PER MILE for paint, rubber lane dividers and labor. $91 million. We also recall posting pictures of some of the bile lanes with potholes and actual weeds growing in the lanes. Some of the longer stretches cut down perfectly serviceable four-lane thoroughfares to two-lane congested messes for maybe a dozen bikers a day through neighborhoods we wouldn't go near without a pistol.

And then there's this from the Channel 2 troll:

• They retire as Chicago police officers and get rehired by the city, doubling up on two taxpayer subsidized paychecks, one for a civilian job and the other for a police pension.
  
  The Better Government Association and CBS 2 Investigators found that some even get hired back in a day to jobs at the top of the police department, all at a time when the police pension fund is only about 30 percent funded.

We've been pointing this out for years. They tag the usual suspects: O'Neill, Roussell, Shear, Hickey who retired from the department and got rehired immediately back as civilians, collecting not only their pension, but their previous salaries, sometimes with a raise. This isn't uncommon and they leave out quite a few bosses who landed other cushy government spots either in the city or at the state level: Townsend, Maurer, Keating, Grau, Schmitz. Hell, Bill Nolan got a 6-figure chief's gig at the Cook County Jail for his efforts on a number of issues. At least Ramsey left town, Kirby left the country and Cline created his own gig.

What about fire chiefs? Do they have these issues? Maybe a nice fire "inspector" slot somewhere? This double and triple dipping at the government trough has to stop. Cap pensions at the earned career rank - no more "merit" pensions. You get a "merit" bump, you get a patrolman's salary - you didn't earn shit. You come back as a civilian, you defer your pension until you actually retire for good. Government isn't supposed to make people rich, and it has made too many of the wrong people rich at the expense of the regular working cop, firefighter, teacher and retiree.

UPDATE: Someone complained in the comment section that if you earned your pension at 29-and-a-day, you ought to be able to collect it on your terms. We agree, but with the following stipulation - if you come back as a civilian, you haven't actually "retired." You are still working for the city. You are double-dipping, getting paid for the job you used to do for 29-and-a-day AND getting paid again for the job you used to do. Pension is for your non-working years, not as a 75% increase in pay for the job you're still doing for the same employer you used to (and still) have. Hope that clears up the reasoning.

Charge Suburbanites!

This has got to be one of the dumber ideas coming out of Chicago government. It's from an aldercreature, so it's really not surprising:

• Chicago flourishes upon an invisible bridge that connects the city with all who enter.
  
  The bridge is a “right of way” that requires, among other expenses, the maintenance of Chicago’s streets, emergency services, traffic controls and sanitation. But the bridge is breaking under the weight of more than 600,000 employees who enter the city daily from the suburbs. Non-residents do not invest in the city’s services.
  
  The citizens of Chicago cannot and should not continue to subsidize non-resident workers through tax increases, resident fee increases and higher utilization fees.
  
  A better way would be a Non-Resident Employee Fee, which could generate up to $200 million a year, finally asking those that use this city to help support its maintenance. Non-resident employees would be charged a $200 annual fee. This is a nominal sum compared to what residents must pay in fees and taxes.

Um...isn't this what the Shortshank's old "head tax" used to cover? And wasn't that rescinded a few years back as more and more employers resented the overreach and relocated numerous retail establishments out of the city limits? We'd bet if you looked at a map of "big box" stores, most are located just outside of the city in suburban malls where many city residents do their shopping. This is a dumb idea and will only further drive small businesses and factories out of the city.

Herbie Links

Here's the Tribune story.

Here's the Sun Times.

We can't find the YouTube video of Herbie mix music either...if anyone does, let us know.

Followup for Chicago Magazine

Someone posted this in the comment section. We thought we'd ask the readers to see if they knew the answer, especially in light of the numerous instances of crime on the expressways not appearing in CPD stats:

• What about crimes occurring on university campuses within Chicago? Are those like crimes on the expressways, not counted? Uic,northwestern,Loyola,northeastern,Chicago state, and univ of Chicago all have their own police depts.how about sanitary district property or railroad property. Lots of crimes handled by other police agencies in Chicago.

 No victim, no crime...how about "no notification to Chicago, no crime."

Herbie Goes Bananas

Not this Herbie:

This one:

• Guess who got locked up again?
  
  Old crybaby city sticker boy in 014 !! He's now an adult so the media can release his name.
  
  Beat 1412R arrested Herbert Pulgar, IR # 1935478, for PSMV on 12MAY15. Reported under RD # HY 256664.
  
  Unit following the stolen vehicle. Offender jumped out of moving vehicle, which then struck some parked cars. Offender fled on foot but was found and placed in custody a short distance away.

Our readers warned everyone about Herbie years ago - numerous arrests for stealing cars and here he is again, stealing cars.

Hey Rahm, you regretting this picture yet?

Hello Detroit

Richie Daley sends his regards Rahm - thanks for closing out the unfinished business:

• A major rating agency downgraded the city of Chicago's creditworthiness two notches to junk status, a move likely to increase the city's borrowing costs and make investors skittish as the financial world reacts to last week's Illinois Supreme Court ruling that bodes ill for city efforts to resolve its massive pension fund shortfall.
  
  Moody's Investors Service downgraded the city's debt rating on bond issues backed by property, sales and fuel tax revenue to Ba1, one notch below investment grade, from Baa2, specifically citing last week's Supreme Court ruling on an attempt to cut state pension costs. Moody's calls the Ba1 rating "speculative," which many investors simply call "junk," meaning investments in them carry far greater risk of a loss.
  
  The downgrade came four days after the state's high court struck down changes to four state pension funds, casting doubt on changes that Chicago made to its workers and laborers funds that also are being challenged in court. The ruling also put the city at a disadvantage during negotiations on pension changes with police and fire unions.

Hey Dean? You read that? "...at a disadvantage." That means shut up and let Rahm dig his own political grave. Don't go around suggesting he lay off coppers or close a few police stations. You represent police officers - not Rahm.

Here's the Sun Times coverage.

In the meantime, open post to discuss the ramifications of Chicago not having any money...except for one-third of a private university stadium, to buy and tear down a trauma hospital for a nonexistent Olympics, a just announced presidential Lie-Barry, extravagant gold braid pensions, million dollar slush funds for each and every aldercreature, to rebuild a parking structure and put a memorial park on top of it for the wife of the crookedest Chicago mayor in history, etc etc etc.

Drone Police

First cameras, now drones:

• Illinois State Police have been given the go-ahead for the first 'drone cops'.
  
  The Federal Aviation Authority has given the force approval to use drones to photograph crash and crime scenes.
  
  Cops say aerial photographs taken from drones will cut down on the time highways are closed during investigations of major traffic crashes.
  
  The police agency announced Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized what it calls its Unmanned Aircraft System program.
  
  The announcement says the program 'is not being implemented for surveillance purposes.'
  
  The Illinois State Police says it worked with lawmakers and civil rights groups to ensure privacy concerns were addressed.

Only the beginning.

"Not Payback"

Who is shitting whom here?

• A fond farewell or a major mayor payback?
  
  A longtime vocal critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) sharply raised eyebrows in the mayoral race when he endorsed the man he repeatedly warned the city not to support.
  
  Fioretti did so after his failed bid in the first-round mayoral race.
  
  Now, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that the mayor will be featured as the “special guest” at a Thursday fundraiser for Fioretti at Manny’s Deli where tickets cost $200 to $10,000. Also listed as hosts: Ald. Ed Burke and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. The event at Manny’s Deli is billed as a retirement party of sorts.

We'll always remember Bob, first and last, as a tool. A guy who ran as a semi-legit critic of Rahm and could have ridden off into the sunset as just that. But then after weeks of saying he'd support a consensus candidate against Rahm and the Machine following the primary, he showed his true colors and endorsed the carpetbagger. We fully expect Bob to go back to his old lawyer-ly ways making a buck suing the city.